Stewart Dolin was prescribed the generic drug just a few days before he took his life in the summer of 2010. His widow, Wendy Dolin, alleges in a lawsuit that the Paxil failed to alleviate his anxiety and instead triggered his suicide.

The lawsuit has advanced to federal court in Chicago and has the potential to change the prescription drug landscape for consumers, CSN Chicago suggests. The suit alleges the warning on the bottle of generic Paxil prescribed to Stewart Dolin was inadequate because it failed to mention the serious risk of increased suicidality for adults over the age of 24. The lawsuit further alleges that Paxil maker GlaxoSmithKline has had knowledge of the increased suicidality risk and withheld warnings about it for years.

The reason the lawsuit is filed against GlaxoSmithKline and not the maker of the generic is because by law, generic drug makers are not allowed to change the labels produced by brand name makers. Generic drug makers instead must duplicate the language word for word.

While Wendy Dolin waits for her day in court, she is busy getting the word out about the dangers associated with Paxil and a side effect called akathisia.

According to CSN Chicago, Akathisia is a seldom refferenced side effect connected to some “Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI’s) that are prescribed to treat depression and anxiety. It is described as an inner restlessness and agitation so intense that one pharmaceutical expert said death can be a welcome result.”

Wendy Dolin is on a mission to inform people that a person suffering from this side effect didn’t really want to kill themselves and that it was the drug that gave them suicidal thoughts. She described her husband as a positive person who loved spending time with his family and who had a successful job he enjoyed. She believes the drug makers should be held accountable for causing her husband’s death.